With the holiday selling season getting under way over the next few months, the electronic-retailing unit of USA Networks is launching a TV ad effort valued at $30 million. The spots, which began airing this week, will run on cable networks around the country, such as Lifetime Television, CNBC and A&E.

It will have to be a busy holiday season for HSN if it expects to top last Christmas, a banner year. Sales were up 15 per cent between October 15 and December 24, its best holiday season in history. Better yet, on Black Friday, the huge shopping day that follows Thanksgiving, the network enjoyed a 30 per cent increase in sales for the day, compared with a year earlier.

HSN also snagged 470,000 first-time purchasers that holiday season.The new commercials for the St. Petersburg, Fla., company, which hawks jewellery, home electronics and fashion apparel through its cable channels, are intended to draw in new customers, as HSN strives to become the industry's largest TV merchant as measured by revenue.

"Interactive commerce started with us 23 years ago," said Mr Paul Guyardo, executive vice-president of marketing at HSN. "We lost our No. 1 position in the marketplace in the early 90s, and now we want to regain it. That requires growing quite significantly."

He has his work cut out for him. QVC, a unit of Comcast, generated sales of more than $2.8 billion last year, compared with HSN's $1.2 billion in revenue. QVC also boasts more than 6.2 million active customers (households that have made at least one purchase in the past 12 months) while HSN has about five million.

The new campaign, created by Kirshenbaum Bond & Partners, attempts to set HSN apart from some purveyors of suspect jewellery, overpriced steak knives and counter-space-sucking gizmos that many bleary-eyed viewers catch on late-night TV. The work also introduces a logo that highlights the company's new moniker - HSN.

One spot begins with an orange HSN delivery box that opens to reveal a middle-aged man pretending to be at a tailgate party wearing an apron and using an NFL Helmet Grill. "Now, with every purchase of our exclusive NFL Helmet Grill, you'll get a rush of adrenaline, absolutely free," the voice-over says, as a steak comes flying toward him from off screen. The sport enthusiast catches the steak the way a receiver catches a football and "spikes" it onto the grill. Celebrating, he dances around like a chicken, much as real football players do in the end zone. Other spots promote the Marie Claire R2R apparel collection and Susan Lucci hair-care products - all of which are sold exclusively on HSN.

Before developing the campaign, Mr Richard Kirshenbaum, co-chairman of the New York agency, surveyed HSN shoppers. One woman said she bought so much stuff that the UPS man knew her personally. Suddenly the creative juices were flowing. "I love the idea that she had a relationship with the UPS man," Mr Kirshenbaum said.

It is unlikely that rival QVC will try to match HSN's marketing efforts. QVC, Westchester, Pa., plays down advertising in favour of investing in customer-service or processing improvements. In 1999, the company spent only $5.7 million on ad outlays, according to Competitive Media Reporting, with most of it going to TV Guide.

"We are very careful on how we spend advertising money, said Mr Doug Rose, vice-president of merchandising and brand development. To keep its profile high, the channel runs public-service announcements every year supporting its Breast Cancer Awareness Month promotion. The promotion is pegged to a fund-raiser that includes a designer-shoe sale. Ads are done pro bono and run in magazines such as Vogue, Better Homes and Gardens and Self.

For many years, HSN and QVC have depended upon their own cable channels to attract shoppers. Both also use data-based marketing and direct mail to woo their customers into making new purchases - carefully leveraging the vast amounts of data the companies have stored on the buying habits of loyal patrons.

The Wall Street Journal